Eises, Blaque cook up jazz hip-hop track

Taking a revolutionary step in the Namibian music industry, jazz musician, Suzy Eises, and music producer, Nasha Blaque, teamed up to create Lick, a Jazz-Hio-Hop track. Although the melodic saxophone notes and the track’s smooth harmony is delicious to the ears, the meaning behind the song’s title has to do with music composition itself rather than the commonly understood meanings of the word ‘lick’.

“In the jazz and rock community, a lick is a phrase of musical notes that is carried over by musicians through time and played in different ways or songs. I have used a specific lick in this song by a well-known jazz musician, Eric Marienthal, that I really liked which has become the main theme of this song,” Suzy says. Suzy comes from two different cultures, Oshiwambo and Damara, and has lived in South Africa, England, Kenya, Germany and the USA. She says that this has helped her appreciate other cultures and their music. “I have always loved a wide range of music and wouldn’t like to stick to one genre. I love to experiment with all types of music,” she says.

Nasha also uses inspiration from various aspects of his life to diversify his beats. “Music as a whole inspires me too. I listen to all kinds of music just to see what’s out there and to see how I can incorporate it into my style of production,” he says. This openness to music brought Suzy and Nasha together. After playing a few tracks and seeing Suzy’s positive reaction to his beats, Nasha proposed that the two collaborate on a piece. Together, they were able to transcend genres and introduce Namibia to a new jazz hip-hop style. Both artists hope that the track will be an inspiration to other musicians to try new things with their talents. “I think the song is a push factor to make musicians see that it’s OK to step outside the box and experiment with music, to try different things with different genres of music and to not just stay in one lane as it will only limit you,” Nasha says.

Suzy echoes the same sentiment saying, “We hope to inspire people to work together in different ways and to become innovative.” The song has not only united two different genres of music, but it has also built a friendship between the two artists who look forward to working together on future projects. “This song is more than a song to us. We have become really good friends and hope to work together on an EP very soon,” Suzy says.

Suzy Eises and Nasha Blaque can be contacted via their Facebook musician/band pages as well as on Instagram (@SuzyEises and @NashaBlaque). Check out ‘Lick’ on YouTube http://bit.ly/23tdBDh and Sound Cloud http://bit.ly/1N7IbuC